The Summer of Sixth Grade and Alice Perch
by meowtimesnine
Summary: Jem's got a girl and Dill's visiting for the summer, and there's a rotten cabin by the lake where we spend up to five hours a day doing nothing but sitting and listening to the soft drone of the radio. The days I spent in a polka dot swimsuit in a haze of algae and cool waters were the days I remembered as the summer of sixth grade and Alice Perch.
1. Jem's Girl

**Chapter One: Jem's Girl**

In the sweltering Alabama sun, I sat on the front porch with a book in my lap, a hot wind gusting up and pushing the pages past my fingers, who sought the chapter I was currently reading but not-so-reading. I was actually sitting on my porch waiting for Jem, who had gone into town to get something and ordered I stay home and read a book for my sixth grade class. Jem was getting closer and closer to graduating and going off to college, and here I was, on the porch, reading some dumb book about talking animals. I set my eyes across the street, where Miss Maudie was tending her azaleas rather slowly. The hot weather was like a thick sedative in the air – it slowed everyone down about twenty paces and made me so sleepy.

Looking up, Jem's body was a small dash on the edge of the road, and he was holding onto a paper bag like it was his lifeline. Even from far away, you could see how tall he was. He stood a good head above me and had broad shoulders and a thin bit of hair growing in on his upper lip that he was all too excited about. When Jem got up to me, he gave a disapproving look at the book in my lap, which was closed and resting closer to the seat of the chair than my hand.

"Tomorrow, I reckon after school, I'm gonna bring my girl over to meet you 'n Atticus."

"Your girl? Since when you got a girl, Jem?" I looked at him incredulously and he blinked a few times.

"Well, she's not my girl yet, but she's gonna be, Scout. She even said she got her momma to sew her up a nice new dress for her to meet ya'll and everythin'."

I tried to imagine what kind of girl Jem fancied. I never cared for boys much, except Dill, and I'd never once pondered what kind of girl Jem'd bring home one day. I pictured a smiling girl with hair the color of spun gold and sparkling eyes – but Jem didn't seem the type to care much about how a girl looked. He once told me a while back that it didn't matter what a girl looked like, but how she carried herself.

A while after the first time I'd seen Mr. Arthur, our town held a small Christmas pageant in the school and I went and stood in a corner drinking hot cocoa while Atticus talked amongst the adults and Jem chatted with his football team. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a boy approaching me, slowly and unsurely, like a moth drawn to a light but missing a wing. He was in my class and his name was Peter Crowley. He was a sweet little thing, with pink cheeks and soft blue eyes and black hair that was always clean and trimmed. He had a poinsettia in his hands, which were creamy white, and I watched as he drew it and handed it to me and asked if I'd like to go with him and his sister to get ice cream when we got back into school again and off our winter break. I cast a look at Atticus, who was much too involved in his conversation, and then one at Jem, who had taken to talking with his friends to two pretty girls in red dresses. I politely declined, said I had to use the restroom, and excused myself. When I told Atticus and Jem what had happened, Atticus said he probably thought I looked pretty in my Christmas dress, and when I said I wasn't pretty at all, Jem told me, it don't matter what you look like, but how you carry yourself. Atticus smiled at him and then turned back to his newspaper.

Jem walked inside, and I followed suit, tucking my book back in with the ones on the shelf in my room. I had a small hoard of books now, a whole eleven, minus the school book, because that one was leant to me by my teacher. It was a small thing with two shelves. One held my books and the other held small things I'd collected, like my box of gifts from the Radley tree, a small snow globe, an empty jewelry box that used to belong to my mother, and a picture frame with Dill, Jem and I standing together outside our house.

That night, we had soup for dinner, and I went to bed with an upset stomach.

On our last day of school before summer break, I stood at the corner of the street by the Radley house and leaned on the light post Dill used to so hopefully cling onto while he stared at the place. I was waiting for Jem, who hadn't showed up in the schoolyard to walk home with me, and after waiting for a good fifteen minutes, I walked home alone with my talking animal book and a broken pencil in my hand.

I sat in the living room for a while, picked up one of Jem's football magazines, read through a few pages, set it down, and then sat on my belly on the floor and waited for a long time. I looked at the white ceiling, dancing with the slim shadows of sunlight pouring through the leaves and through the window, but scurried back up when I heard steps and Jem's voice on the porch.

He walked in and smiled at me. His ears were red. His ears always got red when he was nervous. Behind him, there was definitely a girl, but I couldn't see her. All I saw was a pale leg tuck up so she could scratch a bug bite under her sock. Jem stepped aside, and I felt bad when I eyed her up and down for a whole minute.

I didn't know what to expect. She was Jem's girl and that was all there was to it – but I was still disappointed. I was expecting some fairytale princess, or a strong girl with big arms and a cheerful smile, or maybe a lithe mythical looking girl with a young face, but she was normal and plain. She had limped red hair that was thick and straight, pulled back into a ponytail. Her eyes were a dull brown, but big and doe-like, so she looked inquisitive. Her lips were a full line of pale flesh that she took to chewing on right away like a nervous child. In her hands she was holding a thick book that she was shifting around, and she had on a lavender feed sack dress and white socks with worn shoes. She wasn't a beauty, but she was a cute thing built like a farmer's kid without the damage – like a porcelain doll that a child had decided to set on a shelf instead of playing with.

"Jem told me you liked to read, so I brought over a copy of my favorite book for you." She held out the thick book, a beaten thing with a dirty yellow cover and wide black print. "It's called _Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. _I fancy it 'cause my name's Alice, too."

"Real nice to meet ya, Alice. My name's Jean Louise, but everyone calls me Scout. Thanks for the book."

Jem seemed relieved I hadn't pounced yet or made false judgments, and I excused myself to put the book on the shelf in my room. Twelve books now. I decided then that maybe I'd give Alice a chance, because anyone who'd give me their favorite book couldn't be too bad.

And that was the day that started the summer of sixth grade and Alice Perch.

**Author's Note: I'm sorry for not using proper slang/accents for our beloved Finch's, but I'm a city kid. **


	2. Second Kiss

**Chapter Two: Second Kiss**

When Dill came that summer to us, and I ran up to greet him wholeheartedly, I was both shocked and appalled he had grown a whole two inches (measured by Jeremy Atticus Finch himself at a later time) taller than me. His duck fluff was slowly darkening into a soft gold, and his wide blue eyes no longer were childish and wild, but rather intelligent and striking. He said he'd saved up a lot of money on a gift for me, and it was right here in his bag, but he had to go to his Aunt's house to get it out when he unpacked.

We walked there in contented silence, his shoulder bumping mine rhythmically while Dill looked down at me every few seconds.

"Whatcha lookin' at, Dill?" I asked him, picking at a stray thread on my overalls.

"Nothin'. You just look a lil' different, that's all."

"And that's comin' from you? Woo-wee, Dill! Have you looked in a mirror recently?" A smile passed over his face, but it slowed into a straight line as we neared the turn to my home.

"You just look real pretty and I was wonderin' what happened. You take a potion or somethin'?"

I just laughed and said thank you. It was strange that Dill had just up and called me pretty out of the blue, and because it hadn't happened before, I didn't know if my response would conjure up something negative or not. Dill was silent, but when we passed the Radley House he grinned.

"Remember when we was little kids and we was in the yard and played Boo Radley?"

I smiled myself, remembering the days I played as Mrs. Radley and Dill was my husband and Jem sat under the porch and whooped and hollered until Calpurnia came out calling for us to come and drink some lemonade.

He stopped in front of Miss Rachel's house, knocked on the door, and when she answered looked joyful and happy. After he sunk into the home, he returned a few minutes later holding a small box. It was a white thing with a lid, shiny and pretty, and I was instantly intrigued.

"I guess since I'm never here for your birthday I'd get you somethin' nice."

He handed it to me and I opened it, and I about up and dropped it I was so surprised. Inside the box, on a folded piece of blue tissue paper, was a small bracelet with clear stones and a little clover charm.

"Well, I don't want you to feel bad if you lose it, 'cause it ain't made outta real gems, but I figured all girls needed somethin' nice to wear and not once had I seen you with a piece of jewelry, so I thought, heck! Why not get Scout a bracelet or somethin'?"

He was blabbering rapidly, which was something I found him to do when he was nervous, and I thought that was completely absurd because I didn't own a lot of nice things – precious stones or not. I gave him a hug and thanked him about a hundred times, but I guess Jem had seen Dill and I walk up, because he came out with Alice a moment later and they smiled and talked like old friends. Alice stood back quietly, and I thought she looked like a picture today in a pink flowered skirt and crisp white shirt. When Jem turned back around and grabbed her hand and gently pulled her towards Dill to introduce her, she lit up like a star. Her smile was definitely my favorite thing about her – not her red hair or the way she talked about books like they were people with feelings, but her kind smile that made her eyes crinkle up at the corners and two sweet dimples to form in her cheeks. I thought maybe that was why Jem fancied Alice. She wasn't a beautiful girl, but she carried herself really nice in her modest clothes and the way she talked. _It don't matter what you look like, but how you carry yourself. _

Dill asked our group if they wanted to walk around somewhere, and Alice said she knew just the place. Apparently, back behind the school past the fence was a thick forest and in the middle of that forest was a lake with a cliff and someone long ago had tied a rope onto a tree above it and you could swing yourself into the water. I wondered how Jem and I hadn't known about the lake before – but we didn't really play out by the school so we couldn't have noticed a lake in the middle of that huge forest anyway.

Halfway into our journey, with Jem and Alice a few feet in front of us, Dill grabbed my hand and held it there. At first, I wondered if he was going to stray me away from the group, but when he didn't pull me anywhere, my cheeks got red. He was trying to hold my hand. I complied, even though my palms were sweaty, but so were his, and whose weren't in the blazing heat?

We found ourselves on a path worn by footfalls, and Alice was now the head in follow the leader. I watched as her red ponytail swayed and glistened in the afternoon sun, and her white ribbon in her hair that used to be firm and upright now drooped and looked sad and tired. I wondered why Jem hadn't tried to hold Alice's hand while we were walking – but maybe he already had? What if they'd already kissed, and been on dates like sweethearts, and I hadn't heard a lick out of him?

Apparently I'd grabbed Dill's hand a bit too hard because he cast me a sideways glance before looking ahead. Not one of us had tried to start a conversation, but you couldn't hear a whisper over the roar of cicadas in the trees around us. The heat was draining. I felt slow and tired a dumb, like a drunk turtle with measles.

Alice cried out happily and started running, her shoes smacking the sandy earth beneath us. Just ahead, the greenery was cleared out. When I approached the steep slope downwards, I saw a small lake with crystal blue shallows and indeed, just as Alice had said, a rope dangling over a ledge that was about six feet above the deep middle of the water. Past the edge of the lake, hidden in the trees, was a ramshackle house with rotten wood, but by the edge of the water there were a few things lying about, like empty Coke bottles and striped blanket I assumed was used by a family long ago.

Jem and Dill seemed relieved at the sight of cool water, and both started enthusiastically unbuttoning their shirts and unfastening belts. Alice seemed completely nonchalant about the whole thing, pulling off her pretty shirt in one swift motion and depositing her skirt at the bank. She was wearing a pink pair of knickers and a silky camisole that made me feel conscious of my cotton panties and undershirt. She ushered for me to get in the water while Jem and Dill ran up a slope to get to the cliff. Alice laughed and ducked her head under the water, and when she came up; her camisole was completely drenched and translucent. I blushed and turned away, and even knowing Alice couldn't have not noticed she was completely indecent just then, I still questioned her ways. I started to strip down my overalls, and underneath I was wearing a light green shirt that I shed like a skin. Thankfully, Dill was at the cliff then, and wouldn't see me when I got in the water. I tread into the delightfully cool paradise, the earth beneath my toes pleasantly solid and cold. I giggled when a stray crawfish darted across my foot and apparently over Alice's, because she squealed like a little girl and then burst into giggles.

"Say, Alice, how long you been living in Maycomb for?"

She looked at me. "A few months. I'm boarding with Miss Maudie Atkinson and my mom – my dad's at home taking care of my four younger brothers."

That would explain why she was so casual about being indecent in front of boys, having grown up with them, but I told her I'd go right insane in the head if I had four Jem's to worry about and not a lick of privacy. She just gave me her lovely smile and Jem called out to us, "Watch!"

He ran backwards with the rope and swung for a while before jumping into the water, flailing limbs and all, laughing gleefully and wholeheartedly before a shout was heard and I was sprayed with a shower of cool water when he landed. He resurfaced, his cocoa brown hair sticking every which way, and Dill was next. While Alice shyly adjusted the flyaway strands of hair on his head and he blushed like a shy little girl, Dill jumped into the water, landing flat on his stomach with a sickening noise. I winced in sympathy, and Dill groaned, rubbing his now-red belly. Jem just hooted and we all started to swim until Dill told me I should go up and jump off the rope with Alice. My brother's girl seemed fine with it, and she rose out of the lake drenched in cold water, all of her underwear completely see-through. Jem stayed with his gentleman-y ways and looked away while she climbed the slope. I didn't even have to worry about Dill. He was staring straight at me with a look that ordered me to get out of the water right this instant and go have some fun for once. I was worried he would see my chest through my thin undershirt, or even worse, maybe my panties, and I'd be so embarrassed I'd have to rename myself and move off to live a separate life. Apparently he understood why I wasn't going up, and told me he would look away until I got up there. I climbed out of the water; my arms crossed over my chest, and started up the slippery slope that was slick from Alice's escapade. About halfway up, I slipped and cut my shin, but wiped it clean with my palm and spit in it. Alice was patiently waiting, and her pink camisole was stuck onto her breasts like thick cream stuck to the roof of your mouth. I blushed and looked away from her, a bit envious of her generous figure, but the green was gone as soon as she grabbed the rope and made a fool of herself waiting until she stopped swinging to drop down.

Jem sat in the water and laughed at her. I really just wished she would fall and hurry up because my clothes were starting to dry and were itching something fierce. It was real hot, too, and my skin would burn up if she didn't do something quick.

Jem called up, "C'mon, Alice, I'm down here if ya get hurt!"

That seemed to reassure her, and she dropped, screaming, into the water, where she paddled to Jem with a ridiculous expression on her freckled face.

I was up next. Down below, I saw Dill swimming in circles, flashing a reassuring grin at me. I hoped he couldn't see how bad my knees were shaking. I grabbed the rope, charged back as far as it would go, grabbed on and hoped for the best. When I fell into the cool water and felt it's embrace around me, the shock from going from hundred and two degree weather to seventy degree water froze up my muscles and Jem went under and grabbed me, heaving my body to the surface of the water.

"You alright, Scout?" He'd asked.

I just nodded and swallowed, gasping for breath. "Just got a little scared, that's all."

We spent that afternoon in the water, and when it got a little cooler, Dill concluded it was getting late and the boys went deep into the forest to get dressed and Alice and I peeled off our soaked undergarments and pulled on our dry clothes. It felt strange wearing no underwear in my scratchy denim overalls, and Alice looked uncomfortable, too, pulling down her skirt just about as low as it could get. The boys called from a while away and told us to go ahead on without us because Jem couldn't find his shoes.

The next day we came back and swam for only a bit, and Alice brought me a swimsuit that was much too small for her. Jem had done a lot of extra chores in the past month and Atticus went to town and bought him a pair of swim trunks. Dill already had some because his mother and his step-father had gone on a trip to a river not too long ago and bought them then. I really fancied the swimsuit Alice had given me – a cute white thing with red polka dots and a big ribbon in the front. The chest was a little too big for me but Alice promised no one could tell unless they were really looking, and proceeded to mock me by saying even if Dill noticed he's too nice to say anything. In the time Dill had gotten here he'd kissed me once only because I was looking sad while I was watching Jem and Alice splash each other in the water. After that, my face got so red he apologized and said he wouldn't kiss me unless I really wanted him to. I told him I always did want him to and he smiled and proceeded to steal sweet looks at me when he thought I wasn't looking.

Almost every day, Jem, Alice, Dill and I spent around four or five hours swimming in the lake. Atticus asked us where we were going and Alice explained how she found the lake when she first moved here because she was looking for a quiet place to read a book and drink a few bottles of Coke on a blanket and the lake seemed like the perfect spot after she got lost in the woods. Atticus said it was all right but if we got hurt or into any trouble we'd really be in a jam because the lake was so far away from town. He told us we bring the first aid kit from our house to the lake because that one was getting a bit too old anyway and it was high time he buy a new one. I knew he was assured we could get into no trouble by giving us a musty white box with half the bandages and supplies missing, but nonetheless we started bringing things to the lake.

The first thing we bought was the first aid kit. Someone, I don't remember who, said we should bring out a table and radio so we could listen to music when we swam because when we're diving underwater there's seldom chance for conversation. Then overnight someone brought over a folding porch chair and some old books that I took the chance to read when Dill was out of the water with me. Alice brought pillows and Dill stashed an extra change of clothes somewhere, and all of us ended up bringing so much stuff there wasn't enough room on the bank of the water anymore. I told them we should just put all of our stuff in that little cabin on the other side of the lake, and they all agreed happily and we went on our merry way across the water to see what condition the poor thing was in. Jem told me and Alice to stay outside because there might be rats in the house, and I told him that probably wasn't true and he couldn't tell me what to do anyway.

"Now, c'mon, Scout, lookit how old this damn thing is anyways. I'm just lookin' out for you, that's all."

I frowned at him and lost the silent battle between our expressions and he went inside, Dill tailing behind him. It was silent for a minute, then a few seconds of shuffling, and then Dill opened the window next to the rotten door and smiled at me.

"Coast is clear."

Inside, there was a moldy old mattress on a brass bed in the corner, and an armoire was against the wall. There was a basin with a dirty rag in it next to the bed, and the water had long since dried up in it. A few pretty paintings and pictures were tacked up and beneath the cabin was a basement whose entrance was hidden by a moth-eaten rug. In the basement, I found a music box Jem said was all right to take, Jem found an old football that he took with him, and Alice found a copy of _The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland _full of notes that she had to take. Dill found some old records and we decided to clean up the place and use it for a place to cool down when it was too hot to even swim. Alice and Jem started upstairs, and Dill volunteered us for the basement. There wasn't much in the basement, just an old toilet behind a curtain, a tattered brown sofa and boxes of old things like broken toys and ripped up books.

"I wonder who lived here before," he thought out loud, picking up a dusty picture frame and blowing the layer of dirt off of it. It was empty.

Dill started stacking boxes and crates in the corner, and we pushed the sofa against the back wall and stacked an old peach crate next to it for a table. We moved around some things and I started cleaning off dusty surfaces with an old towel I found by the toilet.

We stood back and admired our work. It was nice and cool down here, and Dill looked at me and smiled. We both fell onto the sofa and Dill's hand found mine.

"It's great that we finally found a nice cold place to stay during the day, huh?"

I nodded and enjoyed his sweet smell of lake water and oatmeal soap.

"I wanted to tell you that you looked real cute in your swimsuit but I couldn't 'cause your brother is always around and he'd up and slap me."

I said thanks.

"Scout, you know how Jem's got Alice?"

I said yes.

"You wanna be my girl, Scout? 'Salright if you say no, I was just wonderin'."

"Yeah," I murmured. "I'd like that."

And that was the day me and Charles Baker Harris become boyfriend and girlfriend, and had our second kiss of the summer.


	3. Red

**Chapter Three: Red**

It was two weeks into summer and Dill and I thought it would be nice to go down to the lake because Jem said he would be gone all day on a date with Alice and they wouldn't tell us where they were going. It was later in the afternoon and the sun was already low on the horizon, blurring the crystal blue sky into dashes of blood red and soft orange. He held my hand the whole way there and we had been holding hands so often now I could remember where every scar and cut was on his palm.

When we got to the lake I went to unbutton my shirt, but Dill stopped me. He was watching something from behind the base of a great oak tree and was narrowing his eyes at it. I tried to ask him what in the dickens he was looking at but he pressed a hot and sticky hand to my mouth. He pulled it back and ushered me towards him and I very slowly poked my head from our little hideout. I blushed so hard I thought I was radiating heat like the sun.

In the water, Alice and Jem were swimming. At first, I was going to question Dill on why he thought this was so strange, but Alice ran up to swing off the rope and she was clad in nothing but her pale skin and freckles. I choked on my spit.

Dill was red, too, and he pulled his head out from the side of the tree and gulped. This must've been one of the most embarrassing moments of his life, because he looked at me with bewildered eyes. I put my fingers to his cheek and sure enough, they were like two small cakes fresh out of Miss Maudie's oven.

I wondered if Jem realized he was only sixteen and not damn old enough to be seeing girls naked, and I thought, well, he had seen me naked when we were both babies and our mother bathed us together, but that didn't count. I turned towards the lake, and Alice was just then dropping into it, and Jem and her both burst into laughter as she swam towards him and gave him a huge kiss. Dill and I exchanged horrified looks, and they both swam towards the shore and into the rotten old house. I covered my eyes when Jem got out of the water.

"What do you reckon they're doin', Scout?"

"I dunno, Dill, stuff we don't need to worry ourselves about 'cause it ain't our business?"

He nodded and as we turned to leave I cast one last look over my shoulder when I heard wicked laughter coming from inside the house, wondering what Jem had done to make her giggle like that.

**Sorry for the short chapter, I had this scene on my mind for a while and wanted to get it out before I went to bed. **


	4. We Were So Worried

**Chapter Four: We Were So Worried**

Dill told me I probably shouldn't tell Atticus what I had seen the other day, and when I asked him why, he just prodded my arm and said, "Cause, you _know…" _and I said, "Know what?" Then Dill gave me an incredulous look and furrowed his wispy eyebrows, turning back towards the setting sun.

I told Atticus about how I had seen Jem and Alice in the lake and Alice was naked but I wasn't sure if Jem was. Atticus sat in thought for a moment and I admired his cool green eyes until he asked me if I knew what I was talking about. I said no.

He went into a long talk about how Jem and Alice are probably going to get married. I thought that was incredibly ridiculous – they were so young – then again, I was sure I was going to marry Dill, and we were only twelve and thirteen. He delved into how love was very important in a relationship, and I said, "Heck, I know, Atticus, what're you gettin' at?"

He told me what sex was and I sat there like a dumb red cow for about ten minutes until he folded his newspaper and set it on the coffee table.

"I'm sorry it had to come to that, Scout. I'll have a talk with Jem about it, I'm sure."

"Oh, naw, Atticus. I don't want Jem knowin' I was spyin' on him and Alice. Don't tell him."

He said he wouldn't but I really doubted it and felt bad knowing Dill would probably hear about it first thing. He had even warned me and I didn't listen. I felt really guilty and my stomach churned awfully slow and painful that night when I went to bed.

The next day I had to act like it was okay around Alice, who was wearing her hair down today, and I thought the vibrant blend of red looked wonderful in the summer sun. She was clawing at a spot in particular though, and I cast a look when she was hollering something at Jem, and she had a huge purple welt on her neck like she had gotten punched or stung by a pack of bees. When she saw me looking she blushed and pulled her hair down over her neck.

She was wearing a tiny little swim suit, navy blue, with white accents that made her look like some sort of pin-up sailor. I'd found a poster of a pin-up girl with a huge chest and bright blonde hair and thick red lips under Jem's bed when I was looking for my other shoe, and he came in while I was looking at it, and got incredibly mad and grabbed my arm roughly, pushing me out of his room. After that, I asked Atticus why I didn't have a chest, and he told me while looking at his newspaper that I wasn't old enough yet. I stuffed two socks into my undershirt that night and walked into the dining room. Jem laughed until his face was bright red, and Calpurnia about had a heart attack when she saw me.

We were in the old cabin today. I looked at myself in my polka dot swimsuit in a dingy mirror while Dill and Jem sat outside, and Alice sprawled on the bed. I looked at my chest. It wasn't exactly flat, but I was definitely growing something. I cast a look over at Alice, who was braiding a piece of hair absentmindedly.

"Hey, Alice?"

"Mmhmm?"

"When did you get a bust?"

"A what?"

"You know, breasts. On your chest."

She laughed. "After I started my period. Well, maybe a lil' earlier than that, I reckon."

"A period?"

The redhead turned over on her side and posed like the pin-up I found under Jem's bed. "Menstruation. When you bleed for a few days every month or so? Ain't your mama tell you about it?"

I shook my head and told her my mother had died when I was two. She looked sad for a moment. "Jem wouldn't tell me nothin' about her, and I wondered why I hadn't seen her at the house."

"Jem misses her sometimes somethin' awful. I hear she was one of the prettiest girls in Alabama."

"Hell, I bet she was if she had a beauty like you and a handsome son like Jem."

I snorted. "Me? A beauty? Naw, Alice, I wish."

She smiled at me. "I overheard Dill talkin' 'bout how pretty you were gettin' to be. You got that soft brown hair and your eyes probably the prettiest shade of green I ever saw."

I blushed, said thank you, and turned back to the mirror. Even if I had a pretty face like Alice said, I was flat as a board. She cast a look over at me while I adjusted my swimsuit.

"Heck, Scout, when'd those grow in?" She was looking awfully close at my chest. "That swimsuit used to swamp your chest and now it's startin' to fit right."

"I guess I'll ask Atticus about it."

"Mister Finch? Naw, Scout, he's your daddy. Ain't you got someone else to talk to you about stuff like that?"

"Well there's my neighbor, Miss Maudie Atkinson. She's a sweet old thing, ain't she?"

Alice nodded, and when she left the cabin and I stayed inside because it was blistering outside, I went to leave with them and only Dill was there, sitting at the sandy bank of the lake skipping stones. My clothes were in a neat pile next to him.

"Hey, Dill. Where'd Alice n' Jem go?" I closed the door behind me.

"They went on without me and told me to wait here for ya."

I sat down next to him and nervously picked at a scratch on my knee. He had his legs crossed, and I could admire just how slim he was getting when he wore those swim trunks. His chest now consisted of smooth planes and ridges, and instead of his usual pudgy belly he kept, his stomach was now about as flat as my chest.

"Dill?"

"Yes'm?"

"You got a lotta lady callers in Meridian?"

"'Course not, Scout. There's one or two girls who asked me to the picture show, but you know I like you best."

"That's good to hear. A boy named Peter in my grade asked me to ice cream on Christmas. Christmas, can you fathom that? Heck, I don't even know if they _make _ice cream durin' winter."

"Peter? I'll beat him up if you want me to."

"Aw, 'course not, Dill. I like you best too."

He mumbled thanks and leaned towards me, eyes casually rolling off my face like beads of water when I got out of the lake on late summer nights. He brushed hair behind my ear, tucked it safe away, and his lips grazed mine softly and gently, then he kissed me. When he pulled away, I admired how cerulean his eyes were getting to be before reaching up and giving him a kiss myself. He laughed into my mouth and so did I and we fell onto the bank giggling.

"Scout?"

"Mmhmm?"

"I think I love you."

"Well, I _know _I love you, so beat that, Dill."

"Shut up, Scout," he smiled and gave me a playful punch on my arm. The sun was setting and the sky was a brilliant blur of reds and oranges. Far off through the tangles of branches and leaves, I saw small smudges of purple.

"Aw, hell, Scout. You know I love you too. But it's gettin' real late and we better get back before Atticus has my head."

"Shoot, he ain't gonna be mad at us. Just lay here for a while."

I grabbed his hand and held him down tight. I didn't want him getting away from me that quick, especially when the evening was getting comfortable and romantic.

Dill rolled over and rested his arm so I could lay on it. I was getting real cold, and after I settled my head into the crook of his arm, I rested on my side and tucked my leg around his own. His skin was nice and smooth, and he smelled like soap and algae. I would've probably thought the smell of lake water, cool earth and Charles Baker Harris wouldn't have been a good combination, but hell, I was in love and it smelled like heaven.

I planted a small kiss on his jaw and his breath got slow and heavy. Listening to the soft thrum of his heart was relaxing enough that I soon fell fast asleep in his arms.

I woke up to frantic yelling. Someone was calling our names. I wanted to stay with Dill, who was now holding me tight as if robbers were going to come and take me hostage.

"Scout! Dill! Where are you?" It was Jem.

I tried to stand up, but it was too late – Atticus, Miss Maudie, Calpurnia, Jem, and just about every other sober adult in Maycomb was standing there watching me and Dill, the horrified expressions mirrored with each other.

If I'd never seen Atticus mad, I had now. Dill's aunt grabbed his arm and slapped him across the cheek, and Atticus dug his fingernails into my shoulder as he steered me away from the crowd that was forming around the screaming fight between Dill and his family. I tried to block out the noise but I definitely heard bad names and curses being shouted.

Jem shot me icy daggers from beyond Atticus's side.

"Don't think you aren't in trouble either, Jem." That shut him up real quick.

As soon as we were in the house, Atticus ordered us to sit down. He looked at me with piercing green eyes.

"What were you doing with Dill?"

"We was just lyin' there. We were watchin' the sunset and fell asleep, that's all, Atticus."

"Why did you fall asleep?"

"I was tired and Dill was warm."

"Jem, why did you leave Scout all alone with a boy in the woods?"

"I was walkin' Alice home 'cause she was tired."

"And it didn't pass through your head to take your sister with you?"

"Well, I thought she'd be safe with Dill."

"You thought wrong. Look at her, Jem!"

He pointed at me. I embarrassedly pulled a hand through my hair and brought out three leaves, two twigs, and a wriggling beetle I squashed with my palm. I wiped my face and brought back my hand tainted with dirt and dried sweat. My swimsuit was smeared with mud and sand.

"I didn't mean anything wrong, Atticus…" I mumbled, but he just ordered me to take a bath and go to my room until he said it was okay to come out or he came in.

I filled the tub with fresh water, submerging myself in the warm paradise of clean water. I scrubbed my body clean, privately feeling proud of the tan I was wearing on my legs, which were starting to look slender and more long. Even my body, which used to mimic a two by four, now was developing curves. I had small indents in my waist and my hips were hollowing out. I admired my body. There was another girl in my class, Georgia, who had a full bust, naturally curly hair, and a dazzling smile and she got lots of candies on Valentine's Day, but sometimes Atticus brought me home some lollipops from the store in town.

When I got out, I ran a brush through my tangled hair, plaited it and put on something modest. A cream long-sleeved blouse and my old overalls would do. Maybe Atticus was mad because he hadn't realized what a lady I was becoming?

When Atticus came in, it was well into the evening, and I had fallen asleep. _The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland _was open on my pillow. Atticus sat on the foot of my bed.

"Now, Scout, did you do anything with Dill that you weren't supposed to?" Was the first thing he said. I blushed and fumbled for words. "You aren't as old as Jem, and I'll be damned if I let him get away with adultery with his girl, all right?"

"Naw, Atticus, we just kissed. Nothin' dirty. I ain't old enough for that yet."

He smiled. "Good. I'm sorry for gettin' mad at you earlier, I'm just not used to seeing my little girl so grown up. You're a picture, you know that? You're looking more and more like your mother every day."

"Thanks, Atticus. You ever read _The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland? _Alice gave it to me, and it's a real good book. It's kind of confusing, but I think you'd like it, Atticus."

"Then why don't you read it to me, Scout?" He smiled and his eyes crinkled at the corners. He adjusted himself and I thumbed to the first page.

That night, I fell asleep with my head on my father's shoulder with the steady thrum of love in his chest.

**Sorry for not updating for a whole three months! My cousin passed away and that gave me a horrible writer's block. I apologize and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!**


	5. Laughing Tears

**Chapter Five: Laughing Tears**

Just as I was ready in the morning, swimsuit strapped down underneath my cotton shirt and overalls, Atticus stopped me and ordered me back into my room. I was about to ask why, but then I had remembered my previous assault to his parenting, and tromped back into the deep recesses of my boring room.

I wouldn't exactly call it boring, but compared to the wonders the lake had held for those past weeks, it wasn't my first choice to spend the pleasantly warm day. I had my bookshelf, nightstand, and a grand armoire that I personally thought was quite mature and dignified looking, even if I hadn't got much clothes to put in it yet. My feet ran over the soft, floral carpet as I collapsed in an unhappy heap on the bed, letting out an exasperated breath and looking out my window to locate Dill's own. He was a house over, and indeed, I located him, pacing his room with furrowed brows and a pout. He looked handsome today, in a collared blue shirt and shorts, and I harshly whispered towards his open window.

"Dill! Hey, Dill!" I readjusted myself, leaning into the window, bent over the wooden frame of my bed. "_Dill!" _

He turned to look at me, and I noticed he was chewing a piece of gum. "Oh!" His face lit up. "Scout!" He ran to his window, overly excited, which I thought was both funny and sweet at the time.

"Are you grounded, too?" I asked, crossing my arms on the frame and resting my chin on them, "Atticus ain't bein' fair. I thought I was off the hook."

"Nah, my aunt's real mad at me. I doubt I'll even be able to come to the lake tomorrow."

"Aw, that's a shame. Atticus can't stay mad at us fer long. I wonder what Jem's up to today."

"Probably out kissin' Alice. I swear, those two are stuck like glue."

"Tell me about it. Every time we come home for supper, all he has to talk about is Alice, Alice, Alice!"

"You're great an' everthin', but sometimes I do like to talk to him."

"I got the same problem with Alice."

It seemed as if me and Dill talked the entire day, shouting back and forth from our prisons. Somewhere along the way, Atticus knocked on the door, and I shot up, closed the window and rested on my bed. It was almost refreshing to be betraying the rules, although a twinge in my gut made me feel awfully guilty. Atticus told me to wash up for supper.

As I passed by the window, I sheepishly shrugged and made a face at Dill, who smiled and retreated into the dark pits of his bedroom.

Later that night, I was curled up nice and comfy underneath my sheet and no quilt, because it was darn near boiling outside, and I heard a soft tapping at my window. Alarmed, I thought it was some kind of beast, but calmed when I heard Dill calling my name like a soft ghost I was much too happy to see.

I crawled out, clad in a thin nightdress, and cracked my window open. He was sporting a big, funny grin and his cheeks were pink with excitement.

"Gosh, Dill, what're you doin' slinkin' up to my window all creepy like?" His hands had helped themselves to my windowsill, and he was lumbering into my room.

"I couldn't go without giving you a kiss goodnight."

Spontaneously, he pulled me close and his lips were upon mine, and I felt real guilty because I hiccupped in excitement. His baby blues were inches away from mine, and I sank my teeth into my lip. Gosh. Why did he have to be so…_desirable? _To apologize, I puckered my lips and pressed them against his own. I had given Dill lots of sweet nothings and playful kisses, but now, at night, with the moonlight pouring in and illuminating his face, I had just realized how soft they were. He worked them against mine just right, slow and sweet, and my knees started to feel watery and numb, like I had been laughing too hard.

"Hey, Scout?" With his cool forehead against mine, I could taste his breath. It was ripe with cherries.

"Yeah?" I swallowed nervously.

"Let me try something." He turned his head and gently rested his lips on my mouth. "Open your lips." When he talked, they brushed against mine and it tickled.

I complied, pleasantly curious as to what he was going to do. Could you imagine the look on my face when he slipped his _tongue _into my mouth? I gasped in shock, sucking it into the back of my throat and choking, clamping my teeth on it. He shouted into my mouth, and we stumbled back from each other.

We stared at each other, my butt landing on my unmade bed, him slouched and pressing the back of his hand against his mouth. I didn't know what to do. My cheeks felt hot as lights and I was stuttering. I absolutely hated feeling embarrassed – it was worse now, because it was in front of my very first boyfriend. My stomach was churning something awful.

He started _laughing. _Of all the ungodly things Charles Baker Harris could've done at that moment, he was happily chortling away in his pajamas, his bleeding tongue with a ring of teeth marks hanging out of his mouth like a dog on a hot summer day.

I started giggling too, trying to hold it back, but it was bubbling forth and I couldn't stop it. Soon, I was clutching my stomach, aching with cheerful laughter, thrashing my legs and tears running down my cheeks. Dill had approached me once more, wearing his pinstripe pajamas. I stood up, brushed my laughing tears away, and he kissed me goodnight.

"I'll see you again tomorrow night, Scout." He landed his lips on my forehead and launched himself out the window with amazing agility.

Tomorrow night.

I couldn't wait.

**Sorry for the amazingly long wait. I had completely forgotten about this fanfic, and now that I'm writing it, I'm in love again! **


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